Survivors of sexual violence in central Victoria can be waiting up to seven months for specialist therapeutic services due to increased demand, the head of the region's Centre Against Sexual Assault says.
Chief executive officer Kate Wright said the waiting time to access its services had almost doubled in the past two years due to increased demand since the pandemic began.
Of the 150 people on the waiting list, 58 were aged under 18.
Ms Wright said all survivors who contacted or were referred to the service received a phone call within a week, and an appointment within a fortnight to determine the services they needed and the urgency of the response required.
However, due to the increased demand, some people were waiting more than half a year before receiving the help they needed.
The support service said more than a third of the people on the waitlist at the region's Centre Against Sexual Assault (CASA) were children.
"It's certainly not great knowing that while we're working with 436 people, we have 150 people waiting," Ms Wright said.
She said the wait some survivors experienced after their initial appointment was probably the longest she had seen in her six years at the organisation.
Sexual Assault Services Victoria chief executive officer Kathleen Maltzahn said central Victoria's waitlist was typical of centres statewide.
"We are continuing to see increases in demand for services, which is terrific because we want people to be contacting us if they've been affected by sexual violence," she said.
"But the demand is such that our services are struggling to respond.
Ms Maltzahn said community expectations were changing and people realised that accessing support services was essential.
Help is still available
Experts encourage people to keep reaching out for support.
"People should not ever be discouraged from contacting our service," Ms Wright said.
She said anyone referred to the central Victorian service should receive contact within a week, and an appointment within a fortnight.
"In an appointment, we do an assessment about [whether] they are eligible for our service, do they require prioritisation, and then we look at what other support services might be relevant for them," Ms Wright said.
"They might need support with housing or employment or to look at medical issues they might be having, so we will do referrals and support people to do that."
Ms Maltzahn said services would respond almost immediately to anyone who had very recently been sexually assaulted.
Other factors, such as vulnerability, influence case prioritisation.
Call for support
Ms Wright said the only way the service would be able to work with more people was to employ more staff — and that required funding.
"What we received in the most recent state budget was a commitment that funding, due to run out or lapse this financial year, has been extended for three years," she said.
She said no more extra funding had been committed and expected CASA's waitlists to continue for the next three years.
Ms Maltzahn said while extra funding in the sector was always welcome, it did not make up for the decades of not having enough money spent on it.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics said more than 2 million Australian women and 718,000 Australian men had experienced sexual violence in their lifetime and Sexual Assault Services Victoria estimated there were 70,000 cases of sexual abuse and 700,000 cases of sexual harassment in Victoria each year.
CASA Central Victoria saw people of all ages and genders — including children as young as four.
The state's specialist sexual assault services received enough funding to provide services for almost 15,000 people annually, according to their peak body, but said it needed to double by 2026.
A Victorian government spokesperson said it would continue to invest in initiatives to build and retain a strong and sustainable specialist workforce.
Pandemic prompts reflection
Ms Wright — also the chair of Sexual Assault Services Victoria — believed the pandemic had contributed to the spike in demand for services over the past two years.
"The successive lockdowns have meant they haven't been able to participate or access what they normally would socially," she said.
But she is concerned the wait for services was making people reconsider seeking assistance.
